Week 11: Bloom

We've had a few nice days here. I'm starting to see some tiny buds and daffodils coming up. I bought myself some flowers the other day to make the house more spring-y.

Week 10: Up Close and Personal

First of all, here's this week's photo. It is actually a super-close up picture of a dead weed. This week I got a package in the mail with my extension tubes.

Allow me to explain for the non-photo nerds. These are basically plastic rings of different sizes that allow you to get super close macro-type shots. You can use them together, or one at a time in any combo that you wish. Basically, you attach them to your camera and then attach the lens to the tubes. Everything you see in the camera is super blurry until you get very close to something.
Here's a test I did combining different tubes:

This is using the smallest tube. It's a newspaper article. The really difficult thing about using these is you lose some light, so getting the correct exposure is more tricky. Focusing is also very hard!

Here's combining 2 of them together. Ironically, I focused on the word "small." I decided to try some shots with things around the house.

Here's my African violet. It's suffering this winter as you can see. The flowers are dead, but what I wanted to show is this is how close I am able to get with my 50 mm lens alone. Any closer, and I can't take a picture.

Put on 31mm + 13mm tubes, and here's how close I can get. Cool huh?

Fuzzy leaves

Clementine

Dead cherry

Leaf buds on the tree

Ice on the deck.

I hope I didn't get too dorky for you here, but I think the tubes are pretty cool. I should have some great flower shots come spring!

Week 9: Masterpiece

It's another yucky winter week. I have had to scrounge to come up with more indoor photo projects. It came to me yesterday...I have a beautiful musical instrument in my closet. This is much easier to shoot than a toddler. It stays still!
Yes I have played the violin since I was about 10 years old. I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't even taken it out of the case in about 5 years. What a waste. It is true that it comes back quickly. I took out some music and remembered how to play, although it didn't sound as nice as when I'm in practice.



f/1.4 on this one with the new lens (eek!)

Week 8: Splish Splash

I didn't need to set up any water drop projects this week. Owen took care of the splashing for me. Love this boy!

Week 7: Away We Go

Caught this shot as I was departing from my connection in Charlotte to head to New Orleans. I think my seatmates thought I was a weirdo!
I also wish the window had been cleaner!

Week 6: Water Drops

I'm posting this week a couple hours ahead of time. I'll be out of town this week, and probably won't get to post later in the week.
Here's some fun water drop photos I took tonight. This was quite a little project! I tried a bunch of different lighting configurations, spilled a big tray of water all over the floor, and have quite a sore neck now. (I must get a tripod!)
Overall, they turned out pretty cool though.

Week 5: Ice is Nice

Icicle at Sunrise...beautiful, but I'm ready for some warmer weather!